Tal Rousso (; born 1959) is a general of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, serving in the reserves. He heads the IDF's Depth Corps. He also served as an MK for the Labor Party. Rousso was born in

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Hulata in

northern Israel The Northern District (; ) is one of Israel's six administrative districts. The Northern District has a land area of 4,473 km2, making it the second largest district in Israel. The Golan Heights has been run as a sub-district of the North ...

and drafted into the IDF in 1978.IDF Profile
He served with the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

special forces unit Shaldag until discharged in 1981, but returned in 1982 to command a squad during the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

. That same year he received his officer's ranks, and then continued to advance up the

chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. Military chain of command In a military context, the chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders ...

, spending much of his early career in the special forces. During the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

Rousso served as the Assistant of the Head of the

Operations Directorate The Israeli Operations Directorate (, ''Agaf HaMivtza'im'', abbreviated as ( ''Agam'') is the Operations (military staff), operations branch in the Israeli General Staff, General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. It was established in 1999, al ...

in special missions. In October 2006 Chief of Staff

Dan Halutz Dan Halutz (, ; born August 7, 1948) is an Israeli Air Force lieutenant general and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz served as chief of staff in 2005–2007. Biography Halutz was ...

recommended Rousso to replace

head Gadi Eizenkot, who had been promoted to head of Northern Command. Rousso's promotion was subsequently approved by Defense Minister

Amir Peretz Amir Peretz (; born 9 March 1952) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party. A Knesset member almost continuously from 1988 to 2021, he has served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), ...

. In October 2010, Rousso was appointed as commander of the Southern Command. He oversaw

Operation Pillar of Defense In November 2012, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched Operation Pillar of Defense (, ''ʿAmúd ʿAnán'', literally: "Pillar of Cloud"), which was an eight-day campaign in the Governance of the Gaza Strip, Hamas-governed Gaza Strip, begi ...

, before retiring in April 2013. During his career Rousso earned a BA in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

and an MBA from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rousso, Tal 1959 births Living people Israeli generals Israeli Labor Party politicians Israeli people of Macedonian-Jewish descent University of Haifa alumni Tel Aviv University alumni Members of the 21st Knesset (2019) People from Hulata